Professor Paul Lubeck who studies on African Muslim societies claims Yusuf viewed Western-style education should be "mediated through Islamic scholarship".

Boko Haram reamend peacefully before 2009; Yusuf criticised the northern Muslims since they participate in what he thinks a non-Islamic and illegitimate state.

The incident killed between at least 700[18] and 800 people;[13][19] Soon after the uprising, a crackdown by the Nigerian Army followed; Yusuf and some of his men were arrested on the 30th after soldiers stormed into their school and mosque.

[26] On 23 January 2015, it was disclosed that Nigerian troops were in final preparations for a major offensive against Boko Haram insurgents in North Eastern Nigeria.

According to leaked security information, the final straw that prompted action was a Boko Haram video claiming that it had stockpiled "enough weapons to take on Nigeria and its neighbours".

[27] The video also prompted Cameroon, Chad, and Niger to acknowledge the threat of growing Boko Haram power and pledge military support for the operation.

[28] An agreement to provide 7,500 African Union Troops from Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Niger for the operation was tentatively reached on 7 February.

Gunmen shot and stabbed civilians and burned homes, apparently targeting Shuwa tribesmen – the same ethnicity of most Chadian soldiers.

[33] On 28 February, a large rally was held in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde in support of the Central African forces fighting Boko Haram.

As Boko Haram continued to lose territory, the group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 7 March.

Nigerian army spokesperson Sami Usman Kukasheka said the pledge was a sign of weakness and that Shekau was like a "drowning man".

A fresh offensive against Boko Haram by a coalition of Chadian, Cameroonian, and Nigerian forces began on March 8 after a series of air strikes the previous two days.

[36] On 24 March 2015, residents of Damasak, Nigeria said that Boko Haram had taken more than 400 women and children from the town as they fled from coalition forces earlier in the month.

Ahead of the attack, Boko Haram reportedly executed all of the town's citizens unable or unwilling to help defend it against the military's advance.

The victory came days after Chad President Idriss Deby criticized Nigerian forces for not pulling their weight in the fight against Boko Haram.

[38] On election day, Boko Haram militants killed 41 people, including a legislator, in an effort to disrupt voting.

On 8 April, a summit of Central and West African leaders was held with the aim of fine tuning strategy in order to "eradicate" the insurgency group.

The United Nation's Human Rights Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for greater international support of the counter-insurgency campaign.

Frank Charnas, a political analyst familiar with the region, said the move signaled the end of Boko Haram as a military force.

"It does represent quite a significant step on behalf of the Nigerian military because up until now they have not gone into the Sambisa Forest and have also been pretty poor at taking the offensive to Boko.

As the Nigerian army advanced into the forest, it began to free a large number of women and children held as hostages by Boko Haram.

[24][45] According to initial reports, some of the captives were traumatized to the point where they fired upon their rescuers, believing the militants were "good people who had treated them well".

Boko Haram pushed back, launching suicide attacks on civilians and attempting to capture the Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri.

[47] On May 15, Boko Haram forces recaptured the border town of Marte, demonstrating that efforts to contain the militant group to the forest were not completely successful.

Deputy governor of Borno State, Zannah Umar Mustapha, said militants has returned to various previously cleared towns to resume the fighting.

[50] On 28 October 2015, it was announced that Nigerian troops had rescued 338 people from Boko Haram near the group's Sambisa forest stronghold, in the northeast of Nigeria.